Friday, July 17, 2009

Vacation Rocks!

After a busy first half of 2009, it was time for a vacation! I can hardly believe that I have been at my job for a year now and I had not taken vacation. When I was invited to go to Hawaii with my friend Kristin for our mutual friend Molly's wedding, I jumped at the chance.


Classic Waikiki Photo!

View from Our Hotel Room




View the Other Direction... Equally Pretty!

This hotel looks so serene from the photo, but I promise it was full of screaming children and Japanese tourists. Needless to say we did not spend much time there.

Deciding where to eat was probably the hardest decision we had everyday.



The wedding was beautiful. They held it at the Royal Hawaiian (aka "The Pink Palace" as dubbed by Kristin and I) in Waikiki.

Molly and Jason and Family


I don't think they could have asked for a better day or setting for the wedding reception!


The traditional Lion Dance.


Once he wedding was over, the real relaxing began. As Kristin grew-up on Oahu, she knows all the best beaches. My favorite is Kailua. Warm, blue water. White sand. No tourists. It doesn't get much better than that.

This paddle boarding thing is really popular. I wish we would have had the chance to try it out.


Ko Olina. The word on the street is that Disney is planning on building a resort here... Bummer! Right now it is a pretty unknown stretch on the north side of the island.




Kristin and I had been taking about MaiTai's at the Halikulani for months. They're the best on the island! We were not disappointed.





So Pretty! And So Tasty!



I was supposed to be resting from my training while on vacation, but when we heard about a 4th of July trail run 10K on this gorgeous ranch, we couldn't resist. It was great to experience a local race. Very low key. Those cones are the finish chute. It was like a TCSD race, Island-style.



Who could resist running through this beautiful area? Not me for sure!



The race director sporting her WonderWoman Splish suit. Kristin swears she is getting me one for my birthday.... but I have to promise to wear it to Masters. Like I don't get made fun of enough at Masters, this would sure do it!




The podium. Like I said... really low key.




After all of hard work at the race, it was time to meet up for a 4th of July picnic and to watch fireworks. This picture does it no justice, but we had enough food to feed a small army! All local which was the best part.




Instead of fireworks; In Hawaii they just have rainbows....



After spending all week eating, it was time to eat some more. Kristin's long time family friends invited us over for "Mr. Mike's Mai Tai's" and sushi. The Mai Tai's were awesome, but that second on did me in... I think Mr. Mike made it a bit strong!


The infamous Mr. Mike. His house has the best view on Oahu!



Why does vacation have to come to an end so fast?



1 comment:

Jennifer Yake Neuschwander said...

Wild. I swear , swear ,swear I comented on this blog a long time ago. Once again. I am proud of my friend for finding a race on vacation and scoring another win. Aloha!